By Jeff Trousdale
Eric Reveno, head coach of the Pilots men's basketball team, took a wild ride on the emotional roller coaster last week. Whereas Thursday night's 74-45 stomping of Pepperdine left him happy and satisfied, Saturday's 75-65 victory over Loyola Marymount was an exercise in stress management.
"I asked the trainer for some Pepto-Bismol," Reveno said, following Saturday's win over LMU.
The Pilots tried to establish their inside game early on Saturday and were successful going to sophomore Kramer Knutson, who finished with 11 points in the first half on his way to a career high 19 points, although he was just 5-10 from the free throw line.
"Guys just got me the ball and I didn't really have to do anything but get position," Knutson said.
Knutson was one of five Pilots to score in double figures. Junior Nik Raivio had 15 points and 10 rebounds, junior T.J. Campbell had 10 points and seven assists and sophomore Jared Stohl and junior Robin Smeulders added 13 and 11 points, respectively.
The Pilots came out slow against LMU, letting the Lions (2-26) jump to a 10-9 lead before UP countered with a 9-2 run, featuring a 3-pointer by Campbell and back-to-back threes by Stohl. But the Lions didn't let that discourage them for too long.
Using physical defense and an aggressive, driving offense, LMU stayed close in the first half. They never trailed by more than seven points until sophomore B.J. Porter slammed down a thunderous dunk off an assist from Campbell with less than a minute left, appearing to give the Pilots the game changing moment that they needed.
However, LMU closed the half with some momentum of their own after Knutson missed two free throws and was called for a foul with less than a second remaining, giving LMU two free throws of their own to bring the score to 39-32.
"They played pretty hard," Knutson said of the Lions. "And I don't think we came out ready to play."
The second half appeared even worse than the first, as the Pilots committed six turnovers in a 4 minute stretch that helped LMU take a 54-49 advantage with 10 minutes remaining. Smeulders and Knutson helped lead UP back, using their size to get lay-ups and jumpers inside.
The Pilots appeared to have it for good after Smeulders made a basket off an inbounds play and was fouled in the process, and Stohl hit a 3-pointer on the subsequent play to put the Pilots up 65-60 with 1:25 left in the game. The Pilots hit their free throws and capitalized on LMU turnovers to finish out the game.
"I was concerned most of the game," Reveno said. "(The Lions) compete, they share the ball and they play hard."
On the other hand, Thursday's game against Pepperdine was about as concerning as reality TV, as UP ran away with the victory, only trailing the Waves once, when the score was 2-0.
Campbell paced the Pilots with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists, Raivio chipped in 10 points and Knutson added 11 points, all in the first half.
The Pilots played one of their most balanced and well executed games of the season as they racked up 38 points in the paint and 14 fast-break points while shooting 47 percent from the field and the 3-point line.
"We need to improve our balance and we wanted to start early on in the game," Reveno said.
The Pilots, who have the third-best 3-point percentage in the country, have often relied upon 3-pointers for scoring, something that Reveno tried to remedy over the weekend. UP scored 24 points on 3-pointers on Thursday and only 18 points on threes for Saturday, all while shooting a combined 48 percent from downtown.
The team now looks ahead to games at San Diego and Santa Clara as they hope to lock up the second seed heading into the tournament. Reveno said that the team has been playing motivated basketball, a result of them having a goal to play for.
"We need to be who we are and be the best we can be as consistently as possible," Reveno said. "If someone beats us it's going to be because they played better, not because we lost it."
